Rhetoric doesn’t kill people—people kill people

“No more baby parts!” is what investigators say Robert Dear, the alleged
Planned Parenthood spree killer, said after surrendering to police. It isn’t difficult to deduce his motives in shooting up a “women’s
health clinic.” He was revolted by Planned Parenthood’s trade in baby
parts—er, I mean fetal tissue—and he decided to pick up a gun to avenge
the injustice.

Predictably, abortion supporters are using the incident to maximum
political advantage. From now on, anyone who references Planned
Parenthood’s lucrative side business in baby parts will be dismissed as a
terrorist sympathizer. Planned Parenthood can also blame pro-lifers
generally, and the Center for Medical Progress (CFP) specifically, for
inspiring the shooting. Never mind the fact that CFP condemned the
attack on its website, they still have blood on their hands.

The idea that Dear took his inspiration from this summer’s undercover CFP videos is unfair though not entirely untrue. I’ll depart here from a lot of pro-lifers and say that the videos
are linked to the shooting, though not quite in the way that Planned
Parenthood would have you believe. Robert Dear was likely driven into a
fit of rage after seeing CFP-produced videos but it wasn’t the videos that angered him so much as their content. That’s a substantial distinction.

In any case, CFP cannot be held responsible for the actions of an
unstable third party. Leftists, I believe, would understand this
principle a little better if the shoe were on the other foot.

… There is no doubt, however, that their rhetoric amplifies the vitriol
against our military. These are people who cavalierly toss around terms
such as “war criminal” and “genocide” until they become meaningless
noise. They claim that the Bush-era War on Terror was in fact a
religious crusade to kill or convert all Muslims.

… But Code Pink and International A.N.S.W.E.R. don’t think that their
rhetoric makes them responsible for terrorism against military
recruiters. And they’re right. Blaming them would only let the guys who
actually did it off the hook. Rhetoric doesn’t kill people—people kill
people.

What about CBS News? Surely it put our soldiers at risk, if only
because their program 60 Minutes II broke the Abu Ghraib prison scandal?
No, CBS News isn’t culpable either. It isn’t the media’s job to collude
in silence just because the story might make someone angry enough to go
off the edge and kill someone. The same principle applies to the baby
parts videos—CFP was only the messenger, and for that we should be
grateful.

Robert Dear did indeed act from a red-hot anger, though CFP’s role in
stirring it up was limited to peeling back the veil of secrecy that
Planned Parenthood very much wanted to keep in place. Their role in Baby Parts-gate was identical that of 60 Minutes II in the Abu Ghraib scandal—namely, as the messenger.

Through the use of undercover videos, CFP exposed Planned
Parenthood’s harvesting and selling of baby parts—eyes, liver, brains,
and more. Perhaps you’ve heard that the videos were deceptively edited. Wrong. A study by Coalfire, a digital forensic analysis company, found that the videos were “authentic and show no evidence of manipulation.” Yes, all the videos
were “edited”—just like nearly everything else seen on TV, because they
are hours long and viewers generally like to see the highlight reel.
Anyone who wants to see the uncut videos can find those on CFP’s website as well. …

Had you noticed how leftists have falsified the debate? If no one else has, Benny Huang points it out in stark terms:

As the drip-drip-drip release of videos
continued, the debate descended into abject silliness with Planned
Parenthood defending its baby chop shops by falsely claiming that they
operate on a strictly nonprofit basis. True to form, progressives
implied that there is nothing morally suspect about killing children or
divvying their organs. The real evil is profit. As long as no one gets rich off the deal they’re as pure as the driven snow.

Except Planned Parenthood did make a profit and anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar. One video features abortionist Mary Gatter haggling with prospective
“buyers” over the price of organs. When Gatter is asked how much she
would charge for “intact tissue,” she responds by saying, “Why don’t you
start by telling me what you’re used to paying?” Odd. Why should that
matter? If Planned Parenthood only wants to be reimbursed for expenses
then it should have one non-negotiable price.

… Yet no one has gone to jail. There were meaningless congressional
hearings of course, and a few states tried to turn off the spigots of
cash to this reprehensible organization but no one at Planned Parenthood
is wearing an orange jumpsuit. So Robert Dear decided to exercise some
vigilante justice. That makes him a(n alleged) murderer and he will
likely be convicted and jailed for the rest of his life, unlike the
Planned Parenthood execs who have thus far been allowed to skate.

Mark my words—in the coming weeks there will be an intense media
campaign to marginalize anyone who dares to mention the fact that
Planned Parenthood sells baby parts. That’s wing-nutty terrorist talk! …